Angular Vs React: Which JS Framework is Best for Next Project?

Key Takeaways

6 takeaways

• Framework vs library: Angular is a full MVC framework built on TypeScript; React is a component-based JavaScript library covering only the view, so React apps often need additional libraries.
• Data binding and rendering: Angular uses two-way data binding and the real DOM; React uses one-way data binding and a virtual DOM that updates only the necessary parts, giving faster UI loading.
• Built-in vs third-party tooling: Angular bundles the CLI, material design components and single-tool testing. React relies on third-party libraries and several testing tools, but has React Native for mobile, where Angular has no official support.
• Learning curve and hiring: Angular has a steeper learning curve, requiring concepts like dependency injection and RxJS; React needs only a firm grasp of JavaScript, and Angular developers are described as harder to find.
• Popularity and community: React has 192K GitHub stars and 39.5K forks versus Angular’s 82.7K stars and 21.8k forks, and is judged more popular with stronger community support.
• When to choose each: Choose React for complex UIs and single-page apps with multiple components, events or shareable components; choose Angular for feature-rich, large-scale enterprise apps needing ready-made solutions and teams skilled in languages similar to TypeScript, such as Java.

FAQ: 9 questions answered

Choosing the right tools for developing client applications and websites can be a difficult task owing to the vast variety of front-end development frameworks. There are a wide array of reasons that support both Angular and React, making both of them the most recommended frameworks for businesses and enterprises. Here, we have covered various aspects of Angular Vs React to help you gauge the features and shortcomings of both, so that you can make the right choice.

Let’s take a high-level view of the JavaScript Frameworks and Web Technologies survey 2022 published by Stack Overflow. As per the report, Node.js and React.js are the two most popular JavaScript frameworks used by professional developers and those learning to code. Angular is popular among Professional Developers than those learning to code (23% vs 10%).

Angular is a well-structured JavaScript framework that uses a superset of JavaScript called TypeScript, which compiles down into JavaScript and gives us features of the future for today by optimizing code to be used for browsers. It is a disciplined MVC framework that has everything needed to build powerful, large-scale applications.

React is a framework created by Facebook with a component-based architecture that helps develop fast and scalable solutions for front-end web development. React uses JSX, an XML-like language built on top of JavaScript and comes with amazing support tools for progressive web app development. React is a wonderful tool to use while creating interactive applications for mobile, web, and other platforms, which is why teams often partner with a ReactJS development company to build them.

Before diving into the technical details, we must first briefly touch upon the history of the two frameworks so that we can understand their evolution over time.

When AngularJS was released in 2010, it was received incredibly well, and it quickly climbed its way to becoming one of the most popular web frameworks. It still remains one of the top Javascript frameworks.

Angular, released in 2016, is what Angular 2+ is referred to as. It was significantly different from AngularJS and started to primarily use TypeScript. A new version of Angular is seen every 6 months, with the latest version being Angular 14. (June, 2022)

ReactJs was created by Facebook in 2011. It was released as an open source JavaScript-based library in 2013 to aid app development processes. It was subsequently employed for developing single-page and large-scale applications by a massive list of tech giants. Web development experts at Twitter, Netflix, Airbnb etc. chose ReactJS to give a better experience to their users.

• Testing Process : The testing process is an integral part of the Angular framework. This allows you to smoothly test multiple units of an application.
• Easy Debugging : Testing and debugging is possible using a single tool.
• Two-way Data Binding : Through a two-way binding feature, the Angular framework ensures the model state is automatically changed if any change is made. Thus, modifying the app data changes the UI as well.
• Multiple Platforms : Angular is a cross-platform language that supports multiple platforms such as Desktop applications for various operating systems, Native applications and Progressive Web applications.
• Code Consistency : Angular CLI provides command line tools to start building fast, add components and tests, and then instantly deploy.

• Virtual DOM: The virtual DOM re-renders the entire user interface every time there is a modification in the web application. All the components are not updated; only those that have actually changed are updated.
• Lack of Built-In Features: ReactJS is referred to as “lightweight” as it isn’t as opinionated as other frameworks. React allows you to choose the routing library, state management library, etc. tailored to your own needs.
• Component-based architecture: The UI of a React-based mobile or web application is divided into multiple components.
• Unidirectional Data Flow: One way data binding ensures the user interface elements cannot be changed without updating the corresponding model state.
• JSX: ReactJS uses JavaScript XML, which is a markup syntax that combines HTML syntax with JavaScript.

• Most errors are caught during the compilation process in TypeScript.
• Cleaner code and structure
• The framework handles routing, so moving from one view to another is easier
• Provides modern web-platform capabilities for apps with high performance

• Slower with interactive elements
• Integrating with third party tougher
• Switching from old versions to new versions is difficult

• Better user experience
• Easier to launch
• Code Stability
• Allows third party libraries

• Tough to integrate with MVC frameworks

1. Popularity: Angular vs React

React has 192K stars and 39.5K forks on GitHub while Angular has 82.7K stars and 21.8k forks.

Using npm-trends of React Vs Angular, we can see the downloads of Angular Vs React over the past five years.

Using Google Trends, we can see the trends on the job market for Angular Vs React over the past year. Here, we can see the number of Google searches to hire ReactJS Developers compared with the number of Google searches to hire Angular Developers :

Thus, we can conclude that React is more popular than Angular in recent years.

2. Community support in React and Angular

On GitLab and GitHub, React gets more community support than Angular. The 2022 StackOverflow Developer Survey suggests that the numbers of developers working on ReactJS projects are higher than the number of developers working on Angular projects.

Thus, React has more community support than Angular.

3. Documentation in Angular Vs React

Angular has a long and well-organized and in-depth documentation. Many features are built-in due to Angular’s efforts to solve more problems than React. React’s documentation is not detailed and much shorter.

However, due to the ongoing nature of Angular’s development process, the documentation is slower. React has relatively faster documentation.

4. Essential Toolset

Angular uses Angular CLI to build the project and Angular Universal for the server-side rendering.

React uses Create React App to bootstrap projects and uses Next.js for server-side rendering.

Considering Angular Vs React, developers can fully test Angular using a single tool only unlike React.

5. UI Component

Angular comes with a number of material design components in-built that are very useful for UI configuration.

For React, UI components are dependent on the UI tools developed by the community. There is a large range of UI components provided by expert ReactJs developers in the community.

6. Componentization

Componentization allows easier scalability as needed.

Both frameworks are component-based.

React supports both class and stateless functional components.

The best way to render a view depends on the type of class in Angular.

7. Languages: React vs. Angular

React uses JavaScript ES6+ language integrated with JSX. JSX has a XML/HTML-like syntax. Typescript is not natively supported by React.

Angular utilizes JavaScript or TypeScript. The typescript is compact, so debugging is easier.

8. Architecture: Angular Vs React

Angular is a Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework that is less flexible than React.

React is a lightweight, UI component library that does not have many crucial in-built features that Angular has. Thus, React applications often require the implementation of additional libraries.

9. State management in Angular vs.React

State management for React is handled by libraries such as Helmet, Redux, and React Router.

Angular can make use of NgRx and RxJS libraries.

10. Templates: Angular Vs React

Templates and logic are discussed at the end of every element in React for users to understand easily. The templates and syntax in Angular are complicated and are tough to understand.

11. Productivity and Development Speed in Angular vs.React

Angular CLI helps design functional applications quickly using single-line commands and built-in features. React developers need to choose the third-party library appropriately for quick application development.

12. Mobile App Solutions: Angular Vs React

Angular does not provide any official support for building mobile applications. However, expert Angular developers use third-party frameworks like Cordova, Ionic, and NativeScript.

React provides a native UI experience and allows the creation of elements in code written in Kotlin and Java.

13. Testing in Angular Vs React

Testing and debugging in Angular for an entire project using a single tool.

React, however, requires a variety of tools for testing.

14. Data binding in Angular Vs React

Angular uses a two-way binding feature such that modifying the app data changes the UI as well.

React uses a one-way data binding feature such that UI elements cannot be changed without updating the model state.

15. Learning curve in Angular Vs React

Angular has a steep learning curve and the entry barrier is high as it demands knowledge of various concepts like  dependency injection, RxJS etc.

Expert Angular developers usually have strong backgrounds in languages like Java, C and C++ as TypeScript shares a lot of common features with them.

React only requires a firm grasp of JavaScript.

For Angular Vs React, Angular has a much steeper learning curve as compared to React.

16. Talent availability and hiring demand

We can use the Angular Vs React statistics from The State of JS 2021 Survey to conclude that React is more popular than Angular.

Thus, it seems like finding Angular developers is tougher than those who code in React.

Deciding between Angular Vs React for your project depends on your personal preference.

ReactJS is ideal for projects that need :

• multiple events
• customized app solution
• shareable components

If your project has a complex UI and your team is only familiar with HTML, CSS and Javascript; you should choose ReactJS. React is perfect for single-page applications with multiple components.

Angular is perfect for projects that are :

• of low/medium complexity
• gearing towards better productivity
• feature-rich and large-scale

If your project requires ready-made solutions and your team is skilled in languages that are similar to TypeScript (Java, C); you should choose Angular. Angular is better for complex, enterprise-ready applications.

After comparing every aspect of both Angular Vs React, we have come to the conclusion that each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages.

They are both powerful tools, and the comparison between the two depends on the developer’s needs. Both can be used for mobile and web applications.

So regardless of what you choose between Angular Vs React, you should select a great web development partner. For a quality product, hire JavaScript developers that can assist you on your Angular or React project.

If you choose React for your project, you will have to hire ReactJS developers from a ReactJS development company.

If you choose Angular for your project, you will have to hire Angular developers from an Angular development company.

A great, pocket-friendly option for you on your application creating journey is to hire expert Angular developers  from a Top-Rated Angular development company.

We at SolGuruz have expert frontend developers who can help to evaluate your frontend architecture or help you implement the frontend using Angular or React.

If your project needs a framework that is neither Angular or React, you can hire VueJs developers or you can hire NextJs developers.

SolGuruz even has expert VueJs developers and expert NextJs developers who can assist you on projects that use VueJs or NextJs.